Peter Crouch's late goal gave Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win at Serie A leader AC Milan in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Tuesday.
Crouch scored with 10 minutes remaining after Aaron Lennon had broken clear from his own half.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic thought he scored an injury time equalizer, but his overhead kick was ruled out for a push on Spurs captain Michael Dawson.
The Milan players' frustration boiled over at the final whistle and Genaro Gattuso appeared to headbutt Tottenham assistant coach Joe Jordan - a former Milan player - before both sets of players began scuffling.
Milan captain Gattuso, who had earlier shoved Jordan during the match, was also booked in the 75th minute and will miss the return leg at White Hart Lane.
It was an unseemly end to a match in which Tottenham again impressed at the San Siro, having recovered from 4-0 down to 4-3 against Inter Milan in the group stage earlier in the season.
This writeup is decidedly kind to Gattuso who throughout the second half was a raving maniac. By my count Gattuso could (should) have picked up two red cards and two yellow cards over the course of 25 minutes of play. Even if the red's were made yellow he still could have been sent off twice over. It was a joke that he was allowed to finish the match on the pitch.
However, the ref set the tone when he didn't red card Flamini for his flying two-footed studs up "tackle" on Vedran Corluka. Corluka was knocked out of the game by the play and can count himself lucky if his leg isn't broken.
After that, Gattuso seemed to decide it was a no-holds-barred encounter. Elbows flew, temper tantrums were thrown, players were pushed, coaches were pushed, and Gattuso flopped around like a landed guppy whenever the mood struck him. It was an embarrassing performance. To top it off for Milan it was Gattuso who was dispossessed of the ball which led to the Tottenham goal. Gattuso barely broke into a jog to try to get back in the play. He obviously was saving up his energy to assault nearly 60-year old bench coach Joe Jordan after the match.
The only good thing is Gattuso did pick up a yellow which will keep him out of the second leg. Maybe Milan will be allowed to play soccer.
One can hope.
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